Product: Kennwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Stations
Model: BNRK510, BHSK100, BNRK800
Condition: New
Kenwood Portable Power Station
Low maintenance with Automatic Power Supply System keeps the battery near full charge without constant plugging and unplugging, ensuring it’s always ready for use
Battery Management System provides first-class safety with advanced protection, enhancing battery efficiency and lifespan
Simple and fast charging allows hassle-free and efficient power replenishment for uninterrupted use
Convenient 4 types of outputs offer versatile compatibility for various devices and appliances
Foldable handle creates a small footprint for compact storage and easy portability, perfect for travel
High-contrast bright LCD ensures clear and easy-to-read display for real-time power monitoring
Toggleable LED light provides built-in illumination for added convenience in low-light situations
Instant power backup during blackouts automatically switches power supply to connected essential appliances for seamless operation
Compact and travel-friendly design with an AC adapter-less charging cable enhances portability for easy use on the go
You have the…
idea that this is too expensive, will only charge a few “little” items and that anything over 100 bucks on MEH is too much? Yeah, me too!
P.S. the woman in the video looks like she pulled out either Pedialyte or cod liver oil from the cooler that was “charged” by this unit! No thanks!
@mcemanuel I have a 200Wh battery for camping. It runs some lights, charges the families phones and tablets and watches and runs some more lights.
The first time i brought it in a week ling trip with the idea that i would plug in the solar when the battery got down to half. It never got below 80%.
This thing is over 800W so it should run four times as long. Like a month of charging three phones, three tablets and two watches plus running lights.
So i would so much call it small as “I expect it is solving a problem most people don’t actually have”
Now if you find a 700W microwave, sure it will only be able to make 13 bags of popcorn (assuming five minutes of full power per bag) before it runs flat. Or maybe run a chest style automotive fridge/freezer for a day or three on a charge. (Assuming a 33% duty cycle and around 80W of usage, which is what mine seems to run) Oh! Or maybe coffee for two months or so, except I’m not sure you can find a 700W coffee maker worth a damn. So I’ll stick to pour overs for camping.
The parody image is Tom Hanks saying: “Houston, WE have a problem! With the Kennwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Station, I’ve TRIPLICATED MYSELF!! Help! … Help!! … Help!!!”
@MrGoodGuy OMG, I think you’re right! However, it may be stranger than we can imagine. It’s a LifePO4. Think about that. Life … 4. Life FOUR. Four LIVES. We see 3 Hanks and a power bank. What if the power bank is the fourth … LIFE??? What if Hanks left Earth with 3 power banks, but two have come to life and become Hanks? Does this mean that the LifePO4 will become … the FOURTH HANKS???
/showme Tom Hanks cybernetically attached to Kenwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Station.
Kenwood is generally known to be a good brand and the portable panel has good wattage vs weight, but isn’t $300+ quite high for that solar panel currently? Or am I missing something?
@airmo YIK, that’s here. I was referring to the price at Amazon for reference. I would think Amazon’s listing would have a price that’s market competitive.
I would think Amazon’s listing would have a price that’s market competitive.
@airmo@phendrick Some sellers DGAF about being “priced right”; just priced to what the market will bear. In due time, if they don’t sell, Amazon will charge them higher and higher fees for storage of aged inventory. It’s why a seller would sometimes just price things out stupid cheap to get rid of it or sell off their stock to Woot (as it can then remain in Amazon’s warehouses with no physical inventory transfer needed); the increasing storage fees would have eaten up their potential profits plus more.
@yakkoTDI Thanks.
So 510 is 600 watts and 800 is 700 watts? Makes sense. (To somebody…)
Wonder what the letters stand for? Almost an anagram of BROKEN.
I analyzed this stuff a while back, so here is a “new” version of that :
I am only comparing wH because above a certain value, the watts doesn’t matter to me.
The purpose of the Bluetti is to compare it to a high quality power bank. It is not a 1:1 comparison. It is just to get a handle on the value for the dollar. From what I see, if I could afford it. then I would get the 510.
@TimW some of the discussion was useful too like how to turn on the eco whatever it was called so that low draw things plugged in would continue to be powered rather than have the powerbank shut off.
@bartsimpson It does work as a UPS (at least the 700w version does). It appears to work very well as a UPS for 99% of my devices…BUT my wifi router will reboot every time grid power goes down, so apparently the switchover time is JUST long enough for it to undervolt and auto-reboot. [all of my other devices never noticed the power switching from grid to the inverter, so perhaps my Wifi Router is a little bit touchy?]
@bartsimpson@summetj I may be pigeonholing us into a Meh based solution, but would it be worth adding a small power bank to the router plug? Like those 8 for $20 PWR cars that would provide constant power while plugged in.
Seems like they would probably wear our quicker from being plugged in all the time but they should still last a good while. It was a thought i had recently for my own house to avoid the router restart from momentary outages.
@bartsimpson@pcunning218@summetj Technically speaking, it doesn’t meet the core requirement of a UPS: it’s doesn’t provide uninterruptible power as demonstrated by your router. I suppose you could consider it an almost-UPS. I have the smaller (600W) one and if, for example, I did work on my desktop computer that was important and couldn’t be lost because of a sudden power outage, I would not depend on either of these Kenwood power stations to carry me from power outage to backup supply.
@bartsimpson@pcunning218@summetj More on this subject… I found a good discussion of the requirements for a power station to serve as a UPS at this page. Summary: a UPS typically takes 2 to 10 ms to switch over, a power station takes 20 to 100 ms, a maximum switchover time of 20 to 30 ms is required to keep computer equipment from shutting down or rebooting. Amazon and others sell automatic transfer switches for under $75 that switch over in less than 30 ms.
Also important is that the output is pure sine wave and regulated to a maximum of + or - three percent of nominal 120 VAC. Kenwood doesn’t specify switchover time or regulation percentage, but does say its output waveform “is the same as a household outlet.”
@bartsimpson@ItalianScallion@pcunning218 They call it an “automatic power switching supply”. As I said, it does work as a UPS for everything else BUT the wifi router so it’s ALMOST a UPS.
@bartsimpson@pcunning218 I’ve considered putting a 12v lead acid gel cell in line with the 12v AC adapter for the wifi router…give it it’s own little battery backup. (Really, even a big DC capacitor may be enough…but they are harder to get in 12v configurations.)
@bartsimpson@pcunning218@summetj A good source of lead acid batteries like that is pull-outs from alarm systems. Some alarm system technicians routinely replace them every couple of years or so even though they may still be good. I picked up one of these used ones at a ham radio/electronics flea market for a dirt-cheap price and have used it for several years to power some gear. Used camcorder batteries, especially the larger ones from older models, work well too and are cheap.
I hope you mean a parallel connection and not an inline (series) connection!
@bartsimpson@ItalianScallion@pcunning218@summetj If the current demands are low, then there are a lot of cheap ~$20 LiFePO4 12V batteries with built in BMS that are the same size as the typical 12V 7AH lead acid. I’ve used one like this for a little 100W UPS and it has worked for quite awhile. Obviously there are bigger and better ones, but if you’re just wanting to keep a little router afloat for a few seconds or minutes, one of these should work just fine and will probably last the useful life of the router.
@bartsimpson@kuoh@pcunning218@summetj Good price! It’s hardly worth it to look for a used battery when you can get a new LiFePO4 with BMS for only $20.
@ItalianScallion@kuoh Yeah, just be aware using the ‘drop-in’ LFP batteries with a UPS and even with some of the Chinese Ride-On Vehicles works until the battery dies completely. Then the BMS cuts out and it’s like the battery isn’t even there. Many chargers won’t try to charge if they don’t ‘see’ a battery. This can bite you with a remote UPS when you have an extended power outage. They can also be a bit finicky if you use a pair of them in a 24V configuration.
@caffeineguy@ItalianScallion In this case though, they’re talking about using the battery as a momentary DC source while the AC adapter recovers from the momentary power loss during switchover. With the built in BMS, the battery should remain charged, though not at full capacity. Just make sure to have a LiFePO4 compatible charger to reactivate the BMS if it ever reaches the cutoff point. I suspect some of the reviews about early deaths might be people trying to use a standard lead acid “smart” charger that doesn’t know how to handle this situation.
@ItalianScallion@kuoh LFP needs a slightly higher voltage than a 12V SLA, something like 14.8V; That said, many older/simpler wall wart “12V” transformers (on the order of 1A) will open circuit up to about 15-16V and work surprisingly good as LFP ‘chargers’. That said, A 12V regulated switch-mode power supply that would be used for a router/switch may NOT BE happy when power comes online and that 12V 10AH LFP yanks the voltage down to ~10V and tries to pull more than 4-10A to charge. (The router may not like being run much below ~11V either)
They actually make a 12V Router ‘UPS’ that takes 6x 18650 cells. It needs a ~13V input, supplies 12V output, 9V output, and 5V via USB. I’ve got one, but I’m too terrified to actually put it in service.
I’ve been running a Paxton ~100Whr power station for a while as my router UPS. It used to have a 110VAC inverter, but it died and I removed it, so I’ve been using it for DC-only backup. It’s got 3x High-C Li-Poly cells and a somewhat regulated 12V. My router runs on 12V, and my switch runs on 5V, so I used a cut off USB cable -> barrel plug for it. The thing is charged with a 13-14V ~500mA input.
@caffeineguy@ItalianScallion Well you’re definitely more dedicated than I would be. I would’ve just spliced in a couple of alligator clips or best case, built a passthrough adapter with alligator clips. From past storm related experience, if the power goes out for more than a day, then the internet router will likely not be of much use as the upstream equipment will likely be dead too. I’ve been considering Starlink for backup, but it’s all full price here, so probably not viable unless I hit the lottery.
I bought the 700w plus solar panel over the summer, and im very happy with it! Charging is slow with the solar panel (to be expected, and really needs to be facing perfectly to the sun with no clouds, or the charge is quite slow… but you can hook up a second panel). I didnt have much time in the day to use the panel, so we plugged it into the gas generator for a little bit during the day, to use the battery at night for my husbands cpap. Battery life was awesome! Running the cpap all night long, and only used about 10% of the battery. I think its worth it, after researching tons of them
Specs
Product: Kennwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Stations
Model: BNRK510, BHSK100, BNRK800
Condition: New
Kenwood Portable Power Station
Kenwood 100W Portable Solar Panel
Kenwood 700 Watt Portable Power Station
Kenwood 600 Watt Portable Power Station
Kenwood 100 Watt Portable Solar Panel
What’s Included?
OR
OR
OR
Price Comparison
$329.95 (for Solar Panel) at Amazon
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Thursday, Oct 30 - Monday, Nov 3
I have the …
@yakkoTDI
?
@phendrick @yakkoTDI pun on the word power
@Kidsandliz @yakkoTDI
POWER PUN or
PUN POWER ?
or just PU?
You have the…
idea that this is too expensive, will only charge a few “little” items and that anything over 100 bucks on MEH is too much? Yeah, me too!
P.S. the woman in the video looks like she pulled out either Pedialyte or cod liver oil from the cooler that was “charged” by this unit! No thanks!
@mcemanuel I have a 200Wh battery for camping. It runs some lights, charges the families phones and tablets and watches and runs some more lights.
The first time i brought it in a week ling trip with the idea that i would plug in the solar when the battery got down to half. It never got below 80%.
This thing is over 800W so it should run four times as long. Like a month of charging three phones, three tablets and two watches plus running lights.
So i would so much call it small as “I expect it is solving a problem most people don’t actually have”
Now if you find a 700W microwave, sure it will only be able to make 13 bags of popcorn (assuming five minutes of full power per bag) before it runs flat. Or maybe run a chest style automotive fridge/freezer for a day or three on a charge. (Assuming a 33% duty cycle and around 80W of usage, which is what mine seems to run) Oh! Or maybe coffee for two months or so, except I’m not sure you can find a 700W coffee maker worth a damn. So I’ll stick to pour overs for camping.
The parody image is Tom Hanks saying: “Houston, WE have a problem! With the Kennwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Station, I’ve TRIPLICATED MYSELF!! Help! … Help!! … Help!!!”
@MrGoodGuy OMG, I think you’re right! However, it may be stranger than we can imagine. It’s a LifePO4. Think about that. Life … 4. Life FOUR. Four LIVES. We see 3 Hanks and a power bank. What if the power bank is the fourth … LIFE??? What if Hanks left Earth with 3 power banks, but two have come to life and become Hanks? Does this mean that the LifePO4 will become … the FOURTH HANKS???
/showme Tom Hanks cybernetically attached to Kenwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Station.
Something went terribly wrong. Please try again.
@mediocrebot
/showme Tom Hanks grafted onto Kenwood LiFePO4 Portable Power Station.
Something went terribly wrong. Please try again.
@mediocrebot No thank you. One of us has already given up.
Excellent write up tonight - I’d like to hear more from Celeste! Maybe she can go for a stay at the Dread Inn at Death Rock?
@Kyeh to
I agree it was pretty good. In fact part of it sounded awfully familiar
Kenwood is generally known to be a good brand and the portable panel has good wattage vs weight, but isn’t $300+ quite high for that solar panel currently? Or am I missing something?
@phendrick 300 bucks get you the battery and the solar panel
@airmo YIK, that’s here. I was referring to the price at Amazon for reference. I would think Amazon’s listing would have a price that’s market competitive.
@airmo @phendrick Some sellers DGAF about being “priced right”; just priced to what the market will bear. In due time, if they don’t sell, Amazon will charge them higher and higher fees for storage of aged inventory. It’s why a seller would sometimes just price things out stupid cheap to get rid of it or sell off their stock to Woot (as it can then remain in Amazon’s warehouses with no physical inventory transfer needed); the increasing storage fees would have eaten up their potential profits plus more.
@troy The links given for instruction manuals are only useful if you know the model numbers, but I don’t see those listed here.
@phendrick
@yakkoTDI Thanks.
So 510 is 600 watts and 800 is 700 watts? Makes sense. (To somebody…)
Wonder what the letters stand for? Almost an anagram of BROKEN.
@phendrick @yakkoTDI
Not Really!! 
Kidding!! 
"
BNRK stands for "Battery??
@phendrick @yakkoTDI the model numbers might match capacity instead of the inverters wattage.
@lichen @phendrick @yakkoTDI There is also information here.
@ItalianScallion @lichen @yakkoTDI Ahh, tank yu.
I analyzed this stuff a while back, so here is a “new” version of that :
I am only comparing wH because above a certain value, the watts doesn’t matter to me.
The purpose of the Bluetti is to compare it to a high quality power bank. It is not a 1:1 comparison. It is just to get a handle on the value for the dollar. From what I see, if I could afford it. then I would get the 510.
A couple reviews in the discussion from a previous offer of this:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/kenwood-lifepo4-portable-power-stations-1
@TimW some of the discussion was useful too like how to turn on the eco whatever it was called so that low draw things plugged in would continue to be powered rather than have the powerbank shut off.
I bought the 700w (larger) one last time it was on sale for $200. I feel it was a good deal at that price, but I’m not going to buy another at $300.
Just double-checking…
This power bank/supply has no UPS feature/capability like the Energizer from a few days ago on SideDeal (& main Meh in the past)?
@bartsimpson It does work as a UPS (at least the 700w version does). It appears to work very well as a UPS for 99% of my devices…BUT my wifi router will reboot every time grid power goes down, so apparently the switchover time is JUST long enough for it to undervolt and auto-reboot. [all of my other devices never noticed the power switching from grid to the inverter, so perhaps my Wifi Router is a little bit touchy?]
@bartsimpson @summetj I may be pigeonholing us into a Meh based solution, but would it be worth adding a small power bank to the router plug? Like those 8 for $20 PWR cars that would provide constant power while plugged in.
Seems like they would probably wear our quicker from being plugged in all the time but they should still last a good while. It was a thought i had recently for my own house to avoid the router restart from momentary outages.
@bartsimpson @pcunning218 @summetj Technically speaking, it doesn’t meet the core requirement of a UPS: it’s doesn’t provide uninterruptible power as demonstrated by your router. I suppose you could consider it an almost-UPS.
I have the smaller (600W) one and if, for example, I did work on my desktop computer that was important and couldn’t be lost because of a sudden power outage, I would not depend on either of these Kenwood power stations to carry me from power outage to backup supply.
@bartsimpson @pcunning218 @summetj More on this subject… I found a good discussion of the requirements for a power station to serve as a UPS at this page. Summary: a UPS typically takes 2 to 10 ms to switch over, a power station takes 20 to 100 ms, a maximum switchover time of 20 to 30 ms is required to keep computer equipment from shutting down or rebooting. Amazon and others sell automatic transfer switches for under $75 that switch over in less than 30 ms.
Also important is that the output is pure sine wave and regulated to a maximum of + or - three percent of nominal 120 VAC. Kenwood doesn’t specify switchover time or regulation percentage, but does say its output waveform “is the same as a household outlet.”
@bartsimpson @ItalianScallion @pcunning218 They call it an “automatic power switching supply”. As I said, it does work as a UPS for everything else BUT the wifi router so it’s ALMOST a UPS.
@bartsimpson @pcunning218 I’ve considered putting a 12v lead acid gel cell in line with the 12v AC adapter for the wifi router…give it it’s own little battery backup. (Really, even a big DC capacitor may be enough…but they are harder to get in 12v configurations.)
@bartsimpson @pcunning218 @summetj A good source of lead acid batteries like that is pull-outs from alarm systems. Some alarm system technicians routinely replace them every couple of years or so even though they may still be good. I picked up one of these used ones at a ham radio/electronics flea market for a dirt-cheap price and have used it for several years to power some gear. Used camcorder batteries, especially the larger ones from older models, work well too and are cheap.
I hope you mean a parallel connection and not an inline (series) connection!
@bartsimpson @ItalianScallion @pcunning218 @summetj If the current demands are low, then there are a lot of cheap ~$20 LiFePO4 12V batteries with built in BMS that are the same size as the typical 12V 7AH lead acid. I’ve used one like this for a little 100W UPS and it has worked for quite awhile. Obviously there are bigger and better ones, but if you’re just wanting to keep a little router afloat for a few seconds or minutes, one of these should work just fine and will probably last the useful life of the router.
KuoH
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7X6WDYY
@bartsimpson @kuoh @pcunning218 @summetj Good price! It’s hardly worth it to look for a used battery when you can get a new LiFePO4 with BMS for only $20.
@ItalianScallion @kuoh Yeah, just be aware using the ‘drop-in’ LFP batteries with a UPS and even with some of the Chinese Ride-On Vehicles works until the battery dies completely. Then the BMS cuts out and it’s like the battery isn’t even there. Many chargers won’t try to charge if they don’t ‘see’ a battery. This can bite you with a remote UPS when you have an extended power outage. They can also be a bit finicky if you use a pair of them in a 24V configuration.
@caffeineguy @ItalianScallion In this case though, they’re talking about using the battery as a momentary DC source while the AC adapter recovers from the momentary power loss during switchover. With the built in BMS, the battery should remain charged, though not at full capacity. Just make sure to have a LiFePO4 compatible charger to reactivate the BMS if it ever reaches the cutoff point. I suspect some of the reviews about early deaths might be people trying to use a standard lead acid “smart” charger that doesn’t know how to handle this situation.
KuoH
@ItalianScallion @kuoh LFP needs a slightly higher voltage than a 12V SLA, something like 14.8V; That said, many older/simpler wall wart “12V” transformers (on the order of 1A) will open circuit up to about 15-16V and work surprisingly good as LFP ‘chargers’. That said, A 12V regulated switch-mode power supply that would be used for a router/switch may NOT BE happy when power comes online and that 12V 10AH LFP yanks the voltage down to ~10V and tries to pull more than 4-10A to charge. (The router may not like being run much below ~11V either)
They actually make a 12V Router ‘UPS’ that takes 6x 18650 cells. It needs a ~13V input, supplies 12V output, 9V output, and 5V via USB. I’ve got one, but I’m too terrified to actually put it in service.
I’ve been running a Paxton ~100Whr power station for a while as my router UPS. It used to have a 110VAC inverter, but it died and I removed it, so I’ve been using it for DC-only backup. It’s got 3x High-C Li-Poly cells and a somewhat regulated 12V. My router runs on 12V, and my switch runs on 5V, so I used a cut off USB cable -> barrel plug for it. The thing is charged with a 13-14V ~500mA input.
@caffeineguy @ItalianScallion Well you’re definitely more dedicated than I would be. I would’ve just spliced in a couple of alligator clips or best case, built a passthrough adapter with alligator clips. From past storm related experience, if the power goes out for more than a day, then the internet router will likely not be of much use as the upstream equipment will likely be dead too. I’ve been considering Starlink for backup, but it’s all full price here, so probably not viable unless I hit the lottery.
KuoH
@caffeineguy @kuoh Note to self: Add a card to my Rolodex: “CaffeineGuy on Meh - power expert and presumably coffee aficionado”
I bought the 700w plus solar panel over the summer, and im very happy with it! Charging is slow with the solar panel (to be expected, and really needs to be facing perfectly to the sun with no clouds, or the charge is quite slow… but you can hook up a second panel). I didnt have much time in the day to use the panel, so we plugged it into the gas generator for a little bit during the day, to use the battery at night for my husbands cpap. Battery life was awesome! Running the cpap all night long, and only used about 10% of the battery. I think its worth it, after researching tons of them
LEGOS! EGGOS! STRATEGO! AWESOME!